Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Stickman

Stickman - at Puget Sound Guitar Workshop

I had been hired as a facilitator to help with stray students that
sometimes feel alienation from being lowered into a boiling vat of
advanced musicians. They feel after a very short time they can never
be on the same page with all these advanced players.
I would sometimes find them behind a tree somewhere playing quietly
by themselves. I would walk up to them with a smile and say "Hi my
name is Keith, that sounds good do you mind if I play along ?" Out
would come my chromatic from my leather holster clipped to my waist.
Sometimes all that is needed for a new person is to make a connection
with someone that will accept them for who they are and the level
that they can play at.
This is a very important time in a beginner's musical life where they
either feel accepted and grow or for whatever reason feel isolated
and alone and in many cases give up music all together. Often later
in the week I will observe with great joy the same person playing
along and having a great time with new friends feeling accepted and
energized.
Another duty I gladly accepted when hired was to do a vocal warm-up
for all interested singers from the 120 or so participants.
It was a great way to start the day and as the week progressed the
group of early morning stretchers and singers would swell.
On this particular session an oversight had been made in the booking
of the years facilitators as Ed Johnson one of Americas top vocal
choir directors was also chosen for this year. I bowed to his wisdom
letting him take the vocal classes and warm-ups decided to find
other things that could I could find to utilize my talents. It was
also a great thing for me as I had much more time on my hands to help
with individuals and plan....
On the second day I announced we were to have a luminere night and as
know one had ever heard of the concept, it was easy to plan without
spilling the beans so to speak. The first project was to secure come
tin cans to make candle lanterns with. I marched into the kitchen
and asked for some empty soup and tomato cans.
I had asked for 5 on a previous year in order to make a 5 pin
bowling lane and teach the Americans a little about our culture on
Canada day. There was a kids area where I had the cans punched with
star holes and asked everyone to make a can each.
I spent a lot of time with a nail and an old hammer after the
honeymoon was over and the children had moved on feeling rather like
the one valiant adult at the end of a fund raising car wash. Next
was the sewing of the costume. I had asked a convention tech if I
could have the unused light sticks at the conclusion of a large
budget convention I performed for.
I brought them with me and had some Shanghighed seamstresses help me
sew them into some black material that I rummaged for. The sticks
were activated by breaking a tiny tube of chemicals inside and
spinning the rope like plastic to activate the chemical reaction to
produce the green glow. The stick man was made with lines of glow
sticks following the lines of the body and making a circle for the
face. They had to be carefully sewn onto the black material so that
they did not activate before the special night. When they were done
the skeleton like creature looked like the logo in the TV show: Simon
Templer as "The Saint".
On the night of the luminere we all met at the big field at 10:30 PM
and the participants were met by a huge circle of cans with candles
in them. I handed out 80 - 16 inch glow stick necklaces for the
parade. I tried to enlist every percussion instrument available for
the Mardi Gras like procession. There were drums, shakers gongs,
whistles, sticks lots of other organic instruments that were made.
The percussion in complete darkness first circled the field and then
we all headed down the gravel road towards the entrance to the trail
down to the lake.
I had volunteers standing with flash lights pointing to the ground
all the way down the many stairs to the lake like the lights on the
isle of a movie theater as you go to find a seat in the dark. One of
my favorite memories of the night were the many glowing necklaces
moving like a green snake winding down the stairs towards the lake.
When all arrived at the large sandy clearing on the shore of the
glassy lake the music continued until I whispered to the head drummer
playing a dumbek drum and on his cue all the drumming stopped. There
was an ere silence that followed and out on the lake the sound of a
flute could be heard.
Suddenly there was a single line of light that appeared out of the
lake and waved back and forth in one spot. Everyone was riveted to
the movement and the sound of the flute. Suddenly sticks of light
could be seen unfolding from the blackness of the lake and rising up
into the image of the stickman with a sword.
For the next 5 minutes the stickman did an exhibition of some of the
most creative sword Tai Chi ever witnessed. For under the black
costume was a Tai Chi master that was doing the impossible a sword
routine on top of a moving swimming dock in the dark and covered with
black material from head to foot. When the routine was finished,
stick man slowly melted into the lake again and disappeared leaving
only the sword to be seen floating above the water as if by magic.
The sword floated out on the lake and slowly moved to the right along
the lake with the flute continuing as the tiny sword disappeared
around the corner.
After some thunderous applause, we were treated by my friend's vocal
class doing a Portuguese 4 part harmony song led with his guitar that
had a light stick in the sound hole. When the music subsided to
silence the procession began to thread their way up the stairs to the
top of the stairs and back to the field.
The next day at lunch I got a chance to introduce and formally thank
the stickman played by a good friend of mine and Tai Chi master, the
canoe instructor and wonderful flute player who sat in the bow of
the canoe. I also gave a special thanks to all the volunteers that
put in a lot of time and effort into this project .
For those that couldn't attend this experience, I can only say that
you had to be there would be an understatement. It was a very
special evening and one that I will remember always.